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Big Enos Burdette (Pat McCormick) is running for Governor of Texas against another candidate, John Coen (David Huddleston). After a figurative and literal "mudslinging," both are confronted by the outgoing governor (John Anderson) and given a thorough tongue-lashing. Burdette overhears the governor yelling at an assistant to take responsibility for transporting a crate of unknown content from Miami to the Republican Party convention in Dallas. Burdette schemes to deliver the crate to the convention. He enlists Bandit (Burt Reynolds) and Cledus (Jerry Reed) to carry out the task.

Cledus attempts to convince the Bandit to "do it one last time." Unfortunately, in the time since their previous challenge, the Bandit has split from his love interest Carrie aka "Frog" (Sally Field) and become an alcoholic. The Bandit is said to be "the only man in the world to drink up a Trans Am." Cledus seeks the help of Frog to encourage the Bandit to sober up, since Big Enos has raised the stakes to $400,000. Frog abandons her second attempt at marrying Buford T. Justice's (Jackie Gleason) son Junior (Mike Henry). She is initially persuaded more by the money than her love for Bandit. She buys him a 1980 Pontiac Trans Am named "Son of Trigger," powered by the Pontiac 301 Turbo, by trading in Junior's car.

A race ensues as the trio once again tries to outrun and outwit Justice and Junior. Their cargo is in quarantine for three weeks, and they need to get it to Dallas in three days. When they steal it, the mysterious cargo turns out to be an elephant (mascot of the Republican Party), whom they name Charlotte after Snowman says she reminded him of his Aunt Charlotte and smelled like her, too. When Cledus opens the crate, Charlotte nearly tramples Frog. The Bandit saves the day by doing a backflip onto the elephant's back and riding her out of the quarantine shed. Noticing a splinter stuck in her foot, the Bandit removes it, and the elephant takes a shine to him. Cledus fears Charlotte is in poor health. They meet an Italian gynecologist (Dom DeLuise) at a gas station. The doctor refuses to help, but sees his ambulance driver speed away, leaving him stranded. After the Bandit and Cledus bribe him, he agrees to ride in the truck with the elephant. Charlotte is discovered to be pregnant.

As they try to make Burdette's deadline, the doctor pleads with the Bandit for some time off so Charlotte can rest off. He reluctantly gives in twice, Frog citing Bandit's desire to regain his lost fame of the past. At a restaurant, she sees him scribbling on a napkin a picture of Charlotte cradled by suspended netting to keep her off of her feet. She becomes furious and leaves. The Bandit follows and Frog says when he likes himself again, she would consider seeing him again.

Bandit makes his drawing a reality, in a near drunken stupor. The doctor agrees the idea will work. In pursuit, Justice enlists the help of his brothers, Reginald Van Justice (a Mountie loosely based on Gleason's earlier "Reginald Van Gleason" character) from Quebec, and Gaylord Justice (an effeminate cop from another part of Texas), with both played by Gleason in a triple role. Justice lures the Bandit into a valley, with a line of Mounties (in red police cars) on one hillside, Texas Rangers, in white cars, on the other. Bandit orders Cledus to continue delivering Charlotte to Dallas. Cledus returns with a convoy of trucks to help destroy all of the police cars. After the mass destruction, only Buford, Gaylord, and Reginald come out relatively unscathed. Bandit and Cledus escape by driving across a bridge of tractor trailers. As the Justices follow, a trailer pulls out, resulting in their cars being destroyed. Buford's car is still operable, though folded in the middle and missing its doors and roof. Justice and Junior drive off the road, hitting an embankment, throwing Junior into a pond. When asked what he was thinking about, Buford simply says, "Retiring."

Bandit informs Frog he likes himself again, and that he does not want to spend the rest of his life without her. When she asks about Burdette's bet, he says they could still get the elephant to Dallas safely (though late). He shows her Charlotte and her baby in circus-like chariots. Frog is overjoyed. Bandit asks Charlotte if it is fine to marry Frog, to which Charlotte responds loudly. They drive away with Charlotte and her baby in tow, with Buford pursuing them in a bus.

Jackie Gleason played Sheriff Buford T. Justice, Gaylord Justice and Reginald Van Justice. For his roles as Sheriff Buford T. Justice and Reginald Van Justice he is credited as Mr. Jackie Gleason, but for his role as Gaylord he is credited as Ms. Jackie Gleason.

Although the Bandit again sticks to a Pontiac Trans Am, this time a 1980 Turbo model with 5 color decals unlike 1981's single color decals, Snowman switches to a 1980 GMC General, silver with blue trim with the same mural on the trailer as on the original film. This "new rig" suggests that the pair were successful in the "double or nothing" wager offered by the Burdettes at the end of the first film where they were persuaded to drive from Atlanta to Boston and back in 18 hours to buy clam chowder.

A world-record automobile jump was captured on film during the "roundup sequence", when stuntman Buddy Joe Hooker jumped a 1974 Dodge Monaco over 150 feet. Hooker suffered compressed vertebra as a result of a hard landing.

The roundup sequence in the desert shows many new Pontiac Le Mans sedans decorated as police cars being destroyed. The cars were originally ordered by a car rental agency in Phoenix, who refused delivery when they discovered the cars were not equipped with air conditioning. Pontiac took the cars back and eventually gave them to the producers to be used in the film.

Smokey and the Bandit II was filmed at the same time as The Cannonball Run, in which Burt Reynolds and Dom DeLuise also starred. Football player Joe Klecko appears in both films.

The film received negative reviews from critics who felt that the original was better. It received an approval rating of 20% on review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes based on 5 reviews.[3]Roger Ebert gave it a 1 out of 5 stars and stated that there was "[in 1980] no need for this movie. That's true of most sequels, but it's especially true of 'Smokey and the Bandit II,' which is basically just the original movie done again, not as well ... how can I say it's lazy when it has 50 trucks doing stunts in it? Because it takes a lot less thought to fill up a movie with stunts than to create a comedy that's genuinely funny."[4]

Burt Reynolds himself did not enjoy working on the movie at all, feeling that it was an unnecessary sequel put together by Universal purely for money making reasons rather than to try making a good picture.[5]

It was the eighth most popular 1980 film at the U.S.A and Canada box office earning $66,132,626 .[2] This box office income inspired a third film where Reynolds appeared only in a cameo appearance before the end credits, Field had no involvement whatsoever, and Gleason practically filled the film.